Architecture

Ten final plans presented for Rebuild By Design.

Last fall, Bjarke Ingels and Daniel Kidd led a Parsons M.Arch studio based on the HUD Rebuild by Design competition brief. In advance of next week’s unveiling of the final Rebuild by Design proposals, Kidd looks back at how the studio informed BIG’s early competition research and shares some of the students’ work.

Kaja Kühl and June Williamson explain how improved parking design can spur suburban downtown development in line with community goals of attracting young people, providing affordable housing, and stimulating local economies.

Christine Gaspar of the Center for Urban Pedagogy walks us through the core concepts of New York City’s zoning code and describes the strategies the organization employs to break down its complexity.

Architect and educator Karen Van Lengen encourages us to listen more carefully to the richness of our aural environment and explains why architects should design with sound in mind.

Sociologist Colin Jerolmack explains how the inescapable pigeon can help us understand the broader systems — natural, physical, and cultural — that build our experience of the urban environment.

Maria Aiolova of Terreform ONE discusses the design group's ONE Prize, an annual design and science award that this year focused on how cities can adapt to future challenges of extreme weather, yielding winning proposals that address coastal conditions from Staten Island to Tokyo to Sumatra.

Adam Greenfield critiques the prevailing definition of the "smart city" and calls for an alternative vision that understands and responds to the messy realities of human existence.